Justice Musa Liman of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has affirmed the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) headed by former Senate President David Mark, dismissing a suit filed by a member of the House of Representatives, Leke Abejide, for lacking merit.
Delivering judgment, Justice Liman upheld the preliminary objections raised by the ADC, its former National Chairman, Ralph Nwosu, Mark and the party’s National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola.
The judge held that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter because it bordered on the internal affairs of a political party, which he described as non-justiciable.
Justice Liman also ruled that Abejide lacked the legal standing to institute the suit, having failed to demonstrate how his rights were violated by the emergence of the current ADC leadership.
He further held that the lawmaker did not exhaust the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanism before approaching the court.
The court also resolved all the issues raised in the substantive suit in favour of the defendants.
On the legality of the emergence of Mark and Aregbesola as the party’s leaders, Justice Liman held that the transfer of leadership by Nwosu did not contravene the ADC constitution.
He ruled that the July 2, 2025 stakeholders’ meeting, at which Nwosu handed over the party’s leadership, preceded the National Executive Committee meeting of July 29, 2025, which formally produced Mark and Aregbesola as the party’s National Chairman and National Secretary, respectively, under the supervision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
